Story by Darksuperboy
Written by me
San Francisco
May 21
09:24 PDT
2063
The television screen crackled for a moment as power surged through the box. A barely audible mechanical hum filled the silent room as it flared to life, the brightening picture on the screen illuminating the area around it, casting dark shadows on the far wall. Seconds ticked by like hours until the frozen image on the screen began to move.
"Good morning Central City." Linda Park's voice was strong, but not as cheery as usual. The smile on her face was simply one of politeness, completely without joy or happiness. "A memorial service is being held today for our city's greatest hero, The Flash. The speedster was reported as killed in action last week saving Gotham City. As you are all mostly likely aware, the Joker's threats concerning his possession of a nuclear bomb turned out to be all too real. His attempts at detonating the bomb were successful, but no other lives were lost thanks to The Flash. A statement was released by the Justice League on the morning of September 13th, not long after the blast. The Joker and his accomplices remain in the custody of Gotham Police and are awaiting trial. Commissioner Gordon gave a statement saying that the Joker's defense lawyers have once again claimed an insanity plea that will most likely result in his return to Arkham Asylum, rendering him ineligible for the death penalty. Thus far, a nationwide protest has sprung up, demanding penance for the immense loss of life due to the Joker's previous actions as well as the aftermath of the most recent event.
Commissioner Gordon's own daughter, Barbara Gordon, is being held in Intensive Care at Gotham General Hospital. The girl was reportedly shot by looters shortly before the detonation of the bomb. Gordon has declined all comments on the subject." Linda paused for a few moments, seeming to compose herself as she shuffled the stack of papers in her hands before laying them flat on the desk in front of her.
"On another equally distressing note, GBS News' own Iris West-Allen, a long time news anchor and friend, has also suffered a loss this past week. Her husband, Barry Allen, a CSI for the Central City Police Department, was killed in a car crash while attempting to return to the city and his family. Our hearts and prayers go out to Iris and her family, as well as to everyone who has endured injury or the loss of loved ones this week." Linda paused again, lifting one hand to wipe at the tears that were brimming in her eyes. She cleared her throat then looked back into the camera. "We will return after these messages with a full timetable of the memorial, and interviews with a few people whose lives have been saved by our fallen hero, as well as how recent events will affect the city's remaining speedster, Kid Flash."
The image began to fade to the GNS logo, but not fast enough to completely conceal Linda's silhouette as she turned away, burying her face in her hands and choking on strangled sobs that she'd managed to hold back during the broadcast. As the screen went black, the blurred reflection of Wally's face appeared. Tears filled his emerald eyes, beginning to spill down his cheeks. A click reached his ears as M'Gann turned the TV off, laying the remote down next to her before walking up next to him.
"I'm sorry Wally." M'Gann said quietly, not wanting to startle him. "I shouldn't have…" She trailed off, watching as Wally lifted one hand and covered his face, putting the other up to stop her words.
"It's not your fault. I've been pestering you for days to tell me what happened to everyone, and it's not your fault what happened to them either." Wally's voice came out quick and choppy, like he was just barely hanging onto his control. He stood and strode over to the door, never taking his hands from his face, the sound of his steps interlaced with quiet sniffling. "I'm…I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back in a second okay." Before M'Gann had a chance to answer him, he took off out the door and was soon completely out of sight.
M'Gann floated slowly down the dark corridor, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as she was lost in thought. A mix of emotions flooded her as she thought about Wally and what he must be feeling as well. All the heartbreak and pain she'd felt at the many loses over the years was crashing down on him in what had to feel like a much shorter length of time. Despite all of it, she'd seen him be so much more than she'd ever thought he was capable, which had been a lot to begin with. The men around him were all working that much harder, inspired by his perseverance and dedication. It almost made her happy to see him reaching the potential she had seen in him the first time they'd met, but she quickly pushed the feeling away, knowing it wasn't the time for it.
With a repressed sigh, M'Gann stopped in the middle of the hall and glanced at the door to her room from the corner of her eye, then across the hall to the door opposite it. Where a blank space had once been, a black bolt of lightning had been painted on the door there, a surprisingly startling contrast considering the demure color. Deciding against going to her room, she turned towards the other door and raised one hand, knocking softly before phasing through it. Her feet settled lightly on the ground, her eyes flicking around the dimly lit room. Like everywhere else in the base, it was windowless, the only source of light at the moment being the soft glow of a dimmed lamp on the bedside table. The room had previously been used for storage, housing equipment and other necessities, but had been converted to make a room for Wally. One of the rows of shelving had been left behind and tipped on its side to make a base for his bed. The mattress on top of it wasn't much, but still managed to be more comfortable than anyone could have hoped for. A table stood against one wall, a few heaps of metal and tools lying atop it. M'Gann couldn't help but smile, imagining Wally hunched over it, tinkering with whatever it was he had found. The rest of the room was bare and quiet, except for the slight sound of Wally's breathing. Floating over to stand at the edge of his bed, M'Gann looked down at him, concerned and curious. He was leaning against the wall with his back pressed to it where the headboard would have been, had there been one. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his shoulders were hunched with his head hanging near his knees. Overall he looked rather crumpled and lost. M'Gann didn't make a sound as she sat lightly on the other side of the bed, leaning against the wall.
A few minutes ticked by and the only movement between the two was Wally's fist slowly clenching on his knee. After studying the action for a few moments, M'Gann lifted her own hand and gently laid it over his, causing him to twitch in response. In less time than she thought possible, Wally had turned towards her, hiding his face in her shoulder, strangled sobs making his shoulders shake as he tried and failed to hold them in. Stinging tears pricked at her own eyes and she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around her friend in the only comfort she could give him. Her mouth opened a few times, but no words would come out so she settled for gently rubbing his back in slow soothing circles. M'Gann lost track of the time and how long they sat there, silently taking comfort on the embrace as well, hoping it would help him as well. When a quiet buzzing rang through the room, she sighed and frowned, waiting for what would come next.
"Will Miss Martian and The Flash report to the main control room."
M'Gann and Wally both started to pull away from the hug, understanding that the statement might have sounded like a question, but was actually an order. She looked at Wally's face, noticing the redness around his eyes and the tracks his tears had left across his cheeks. "You don't have to come, you know." She said gently.
"It wouldn't be as much fun if I didn't." Wally said laughing quietly and wiping his face. He stood up quickly, holding his hand out towards her. "Let's go."
Wally walked into the command center, seeing the room was busy as usual. People walked across the room at speeds that would usually have seemed odd indoors, especially for normal people, but he'd grown used to it over the weeks. The banks of computers cast white and blue light around the darker areas of the room, reflecting brightly in their operator's eyes. He glanced slightly over his shoulder to make sure M'Gann was still there, just behind him, then angled toward the middle of the room where Michael stood, scowling at the clipboard being handed to him by a young man. As they got closer, his ears picked up the sound of Michael grumbling under his breath.
"Fifty years in an apocalyptic war and somehow paper work manages to survive the whole thing." Michael's voice was halfway to a growl as he signed the papers with a quick flick of the pen in his hand. As he looked up, handing the clipboard away, he spotted the two approaching. "There you are. We were just about to start."
Wally crossed his arms over his chest, looking around the familiar situation. "Another communication upload?" He guessed.
"Yes, but this one is different. Every resistance base this side of the Atlantic is going into full link up." Michael said proudly. "You're about to witness something that only happens once a year, and it's happening early. All because of you."
"Link up in thirty seconds. All checks are green, sir." One man called out from the end of a row of computers.
"Me?" Wally looked at Michael, clearly surprised. And a bit concerned. "Why me? What did I do?"
"There are some people who would like to see you again." M'Gann chipped in grinning. Her smile grew even wider as Wally's confusion became evident on his face.
"Fifteen seconds, sir!" Michael looked away from Wally and straightened the front of his jacket, standing up to his full height. The lights around the room began to dim, even the glow of the computers lowering to a light glimmer. "We are go in five, four, three, two, one."
The darkness in the room was forced away as multiple large screens lit up, each baring a face. Wally was surprised that a few of them looked familiar, though he only recognized Batman. He wanted to speak, but held it in, knowing some serious conversations were about to take place.
"We've estimated three minutes link time, sir." Another man called out. "Granny seems to be on a roll today." Though their time was short, everyone waited quietly, expecting whoever the leader was to speak first. Wally wasn't sure, but had a good idea of who that might be.
"Good morning. I've requested this meeting ahead of schedule due to an important discovery I have made regarding the enemy, as well as to discuss our newest addition." Batman spoke, confirming Wally's suspicion. He looked as if he had more to say, but was interrupted by a man on another of the screens. His hair was gray but he was still quite well muscled despite his apparent age.
"Is he there? Can we see him?" He asked eagerly. Michael turned away from the screens and motioned to Wally, beckoning him forward. Wally swallowed hard and took a few hesitant steps forward, standing in front of the bank of screens as Michael stepped back. "Oh wow! It is you! Look at him. He hasn't even changed a bit!"
Wally blinked a few times, the tone in the man's voice ringing a bell of recognition. "Billy…is that you?" He asked peering at the man.
"He even sounds the same!" The reply came out as a laugh. "You got it in one guess, West."
"Wow." Wally stared at him, mildly shocked. "You look so…"
"Old?" Billy offered. "That tends to happen when you skip several decades in one go. It's good to see you Wally."
"Agreed." The robotic voice cut in, startling Wally a bit, making him turn around quickly to face another of the screens. "But we should return to the matter at hand. Time is limited."
"Red Tornado." Wally said simply amazed.
"That is correct." Red Tornado responded like it was the most obvious thing. Wally supposed he should have figured the robot wouldn't age, but the fact that he was still around surprised him. "I must restate our need to return to the purpose of this meeting. I estimate we have a further 1.54 minutes before we must disengage communication. Please continue Batman." Wally smiled a little, before stepping back to allow Michael to take his place.
"I will not go in to detail just in case our signal is intercepted, but I believe I may have found a means of ending this war." Batman said flatly. Everyone remained silent, stunned.
"Could you repeat that?" Michale asked, sounding more than a little shocked.
"You heard me. I will not divulge the details over this link." Batman repeated. "I have requested a meeting of all Resistance commanders and officials in Gotham as soon as possible."
"That's a major request Bats." Billy interjected. "You've got to at least give us something."
"No! This could be the best chance we've got to end this once and for all and I will not jeopardize that just to satisfy your curiousity." Batman exclaimed. He paused, waiting for the others to speak. Michael let out a sigh, disguised as an extended breath.
"Alright Bats, if you think you've got something, we'll check it out. We'll have route details and our estimated travel time ready for you by the next transmission. Any objections?" Michael paused, but no one said anything. He looked over his shoulder at a computer. "The downloads are complete, and we've only got another ten seconds of signal time left. Meeting adjourned?" The screens went dark again in answer; the only one that remained was Batman's, his face looking blank and stoic.
"Bring the kid." He said quickly, before his screen went black. Darkness completely covered the room for a few seconds before the lights turned on again. Michael sighed and turned around to see every pair of eyes in the room on him.
"Well, you heard the man!" He stepped down from the platform, motioning to one of the desks. "I'm going to need a long range convoy set up with the next twenty-four hours. Everyone relevant to this should meet me in my office in half an hour. I want a complete written inventory of every mission brief for the last year." The still room erupted into life as the people dashed to carry out the orders. Michael relaxed his shoulders, but only slightly, then glanced at M'Gann and Wally. He walked over, stopping in front of them.
"Yes?" Wally asked, waiting for an order.
"You two come with me." Michael said before brushing past them and out of the room.
The three of them moved fluidly down the corridor, the people they passed moving to the side, some stopping to salute them as they passed. Wally clipped his steps to stay just behind Michael as they walked, his eyes flicking over to M'Gann questioningly a few times.
"We haven't tried a city to city convoy of this size in years." Michael said suddenly looking to the side at M'Gann as well. "What's it like in the No Man's Land?"
"Pretty bad." M'Gann said quietly, biting her lower lip for a moment. "I don't know how we're going to get you all through."
"I could run a few you there in a snap. It wasn't much of a problem when I was moving around before I ran into you all." Wally offered.
"You got lucky." Michael said flatly, but obviously rejecting the idea.
"Come on, how bad can it be?" Wally asked, startled as the other two stopped suddenly. Michael turned around to look at him, his face serious.
"Let me tell you what's out there. First, you've got Apocoliptian forces completely infesting the place. They're in the sky too so we can't just fly over the mess. Second, the renegades on the ground no longer follow anyone and just kill everything they see. There are beasts that somehow managed to escape their cages roaming around looking for their next meal; lone humans scavenging everything they can find who would kill you just for the clothes off your back if they got the chance; deadly terrain; disease; basically death waiting around every corner. Did I forget anything?" He looked at M'Gann for a moment as Wally blinked at him, stunned into silence. "Few people are capable of surviving it on their own. Miss Martian is the only one with the abilities to even try it anymore."
"Couldn't we use the bioship?" Wally asked. M'Gann gasped quietly, making Michael turn to look at her again.
"M'Gann, you haven't told him yet?" He asked quietly. M'Gann closed her eyes and looked away, her expression a mixture of shame and sadness.
"Told me what?" Wally asked looking between them. "What else am I missing?"
"Wally, there is no bioship anymore. Here or anywhere else for that matter." Michael sighed, putting a comforting hand on M'Gann's shoulder. "M'Gann isn't just the only Martian on Earth; she's the last Martian in the universe."
"What? That's not possible." Wally exclaimed, despite noting the very serious look on Michael's face. He turned to M'Gann, blinking slowly. "Why didn't you say something before? All this time…" He trailed off, not really wanting to finish the thought.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't." M'Gann finally spoke, looking up into Wally's eyes, her own brimming with fresh tears. "You were already hurting so much and with everything you had to deal with already…You have plenty of your own pain, I didn't want to burden you with mine." Before she could blink away the next round of tears that were spilling down her cheeks, Wally had crushed her to his chest in a tight hug.
"That's what friends are for Miss M." Wally said quietly, tightening his hold as M'Gann let out a sound of shock, but returned the embrace anyway. They held onto each other for a few moments before a cough brought them back to the present. Wally opened his eyes, not realizing he'd closed them, and looked at Michael, remembering the man was there and that they were in the middle of a crowded and busy hallway. Even so, he refused to let go of M'Gann just yet.
"Well it looks like you two have a few things to talk about." Michael said turning away. He started to walk down the hall and looked back at them over his shoulder. "You can both return to your quarters. I'll send for you when we're ready to leave."
M'Gann opened the door to her room, leaving it open behind her as she walked inside, a silent invitation for Wally to do the same. He followed, but stopped near the door, looking around her sparsely furnished room. It looked very bare, but what little the room did contain was meticulously organized. Her bed was pristinely made, but the blanket crumpled as she sat down quickly, losing confidence in her legs' ability to hold her up at that moment. Wally looked down at her, then pulled the chair from her desk around so that he could sit across form her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked gently, leaning his elbows onto his knees and folding his hands together after a long period of strangely awkward silence.
M'Gann shook her head, lifting her gaze from her lap to look at his face. Her eyes glowed briefly. No. But I can show you. She lifted one hand with agonizing slowness, letting her fingertips hover just barely off the side of Wally's head, waiting. His short nod was all the encouragement she needed to lay her hand against his temple.
The interior of the Hall of Justice looked just as Wally remembered it, but instead of clean white washed walls and smooth glass windows lining them, everything was cracked and crumbling as if and earthquake had shaken it. A tremble ran through the ground, followed by the roar of an explosion from outside had him turning to look out of the windows. Outside high above the tops of the building around them, thousands of alien crafts were raining red beams of light down on the people below them, not caring who or what they destroyed. He began to grow a little dizzy as he jerked around, the sound of door opening behind him setting his heart racing, even though he knew it wasn't really happening. Beast Boy was running out of the room, Miss Martian held carefully in his arms, a fresh burn marring the side of her face.
"We lost so many, just in the first hour." M'Gann said appearing next to him in her current state. "Including my uncle."
She turned to look out the window. Wally looked at her for a while before following her gaze outside. A few jets were flying into the scene, most of them falling in the first few minutes, struck down by the brilliant red laser like beams flying from the alien crafts. The few missiles that managed to make contact with the ships barely damaged them at all. Just when Wally was starting to think there was nothing to be done, a bright beam of pure energy streaked through the sky, taking out a few of the larger hover tanks along with a number of the smaller ones. He could just make out the blurred outline of the camouflaged bioshop moving between the enemy crafts, firing all of its weapons as it went. A bit of pride pricked at him as he thought that at least they weren't going to get an easy victory out of this; the feeling faded as a stray bolt clipped the side of the ship, rendering visible. Finding they now had something particular to aim at, a barrage of fire rained down on the bioship, sending it crashing to the ground off in the distance. The image before him began to glow then faded.
Wally now found himself in a dark pipe, feeling smothered by the foul smell coming up from the water he stood in that was nearly knee deep. The air around him was cold and damp, and rank with the smell of a sewer. In front of him, peering around a corner in the pipe was Red Arrow. His bow was clutched in his hands, an arrow loosely knocked and ready to be fired if the need arose. He moved forward, followed by Nightwing. Batgirl was held in his arms, out of her uniform and looking a bit pale. An alligator shaped Beast Boy was moving through the water behind them, with Miss Martian just behind him, floating just above the surface of the water. Her face was blistered and tear tracks stained her skin.
"It had been three days since the invasion started when it happened." M'Gann said in a shaking voice. Wally kept his eyes on the group, not really knowing what he was waiting for. Suddenly, Miss Martian stopped, grabbing the sides of her head. She dropped down into the water, crumpling under as she went completely limp. Beast Boy flipped around, shifting out of the alligator form and into his human one. He reached into the water, hauling Miss Martian back to the surface. She started to curl into a tight ball as he held onto her, her mouth opened and a heart-wrenching scream poured out that seemed as if it would never end, echoing eerily around the pipes. "They were killing them then. All of them."
Fragments of broke images flashed in his mind. A rocky landscape tinged in red with a red tinted sky, a heavy shadow covered as far as he could see. Wally didn't look up, knowing he would see the War World there. He closed his eyes as the artificial planet's largest weapon began to fire, the beam striking Mars far off in front of him. As the ground began to shake he opened his eyes, just in time to see a dusty cloud rising from the ground billowing forward, rushing at him with astonishing speed. The crust of the planet began to break apart, great splits tearing down towards the planets core. Massive chunks of it rose up with the wave of dust, flying in all directions. Thunderous cracking sounds joined the roar of the wind in his ears, the distant sound of millions of screams breaking into his mind. He covered his ears, a desperate attempt to block out the horrendous sound. Light enveloped him once more and the screaming stopped.
Wally opened his eyes, seeing nothing but white beneath his feet. He straightened up, taking his hands away from his ears. M'Gann was floating in front of him, her hood pulled up over her head.
"The Light and Darkseid thought my people were too much of a risk just to rule them. They decided to wipe them out instead." Her voice was quiet and a little shaky. "I am the last Martian. I am alone."
Wally reached out, finding himself floating as he moved toward her, wrapping his arms around her in a gentle hug.
"Not anymore."
San Francisco
May 22
10:24 PDT
2063
The garage was full of vehicles in varying size and shape; a few random cars were lined up amongst trucks and Humvees, a few tanks clustered together on the far end. Of all the vehicles in the garage, three of them positioned closest to the garage entrance, were receiving the most intention undergoing final checks. Michael walked alongside each of them, looking thoughtful, his eyes slightly narrowed in focus. The first was considered the crown jewel of the fleet of armored vehicles the Resistance possessed, a M1A3 Abrams affectionately referred to as Roadblock. The tank had been one of the most state of the art pieces of machinery in the world before the invasion; they'd been hard to find even before that, having just come off the drawing board so to speak. Though they had been limited in number they had been used during the first waves of fighting and the weapons systems that included a few canons and a high caliber machine gun had been doing a fine job ever since then.
Next to it stood The Marauder; the armored personnel carrier would play home to everyone going on this little trip. They had acquired the behemoth of a vehicle from a rather paranoid- but rightfully so- billionaire. Extra armor had been added to the windows, in addition to miniature rotating turret guns attached to the top, accessible by a hatch in the roof. The vehicle was essentially the safest RV anyone could hope for. The last of the trio was by far the favorite of the engineers in charge of the garage. A relic left over from World War II nick named Big Momma, it had been rescued from a war museum and shoved back into battle after a seventy-five year break. It was simple on the inside which made maintenance and repairs easier than with any of the newer vehicles; more complicated parts were harder to come by these days. It sported and even larger cannon than the first tank, making it much more formidable than it looked.
Michael reached the end of the short row of vehicles, giving Big Momma an affectionate pat, like a dog that had brought him the morning paper. He smiled around the room, feeling a swell of pride at what the crews had accomplished in such a short time. A sigh escaped him as he was handed another clipboard, this time bearing a list. As he poured over it, Devastation walked up next to him, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting silently.
"I take it you're not a fan of this idea." He said flatly, knowing he didn't need to bother with making it a question.
"No." Devastation replied, her voice just as flat. The single word was all she needed to say to get to the point.
"If you would prefer I could always leave you in command and go without you." Michael smiled at the thought of Devastation stuck behind a desk, the mountains of paper on it slowly building until she was lost to the tortures of paperwork.
"No." Again flatly and to the point.
"Then you're just annoyed by the idea of being stuck in the back of a truck for a few days?" Michael asked raising an eyebrow. Devastation's only reply this time was silence. He looked up from the list to see a look on her face that was clearly asking if he knew what he was doing, causing him to smile a little. "It won't be that bad. I mean, you know what I mean. I know you're looking forward to fighting for our lives."
At the far end of the garage, Wally and M'Gann walked in through a small side door, both of them dressed in regulation uniforms. Michael smiled over at the two of them, waving them over.
"Glad you two could join us. We're leaving in five minutes." Michael called out. He produced a whistle from a chain around his neck and blew on it, drawing everyone's attention as he climbed up to stand on Big Momma. "Listen up everyone! You all know what we're about to do so I'm going to give you all a chance to back out. Nobody will blame you if you chose to do so. Everyone still up for this mission, take one step forward." Wally and M'Gann exchanged a glanced before stepping forward, along with everyone else in the room. Michael jumped down from Big Momma, angling towards a group of Marines and gesturing to M'Gann and Wally.
"Miss Martian, Flash, and all of you are Alpha with the Marauder. Roadblock crew is on point with me. Big Momma will bring up the rear with Devastation. We're taking the south east highway out of here so we'll be open to the enemy, but they'll be drawn off by our distraction units. One last engine check them we're out of here!"
With Michael's last word, the group split, and moved to their assigned vehicles. Wally stuck close to M'Gann's side, following her lead. Someone handed him a helmet with a radio inside as he climbed into the belly of the marauder; he put it on, seeing that everyone else was doing so. He slid into his seat, feeling a bit cramped as he was stuck between M'Gann and a very large man.
"I'll make some room." M'Gann said smiling, shrinking down a bit. Wally relaxed a little, no longer completely stuck.
"Thanks." Wally whispered, before a crackling near his ear alerted him to the speaker in his helmet flaring to life.
"Okay, I need a go or no go from every crew on radios and engine. Roadblock?" Michael's voice sounded strange and mechanical over the radio.
"Roadblock is go, sir."
"Marauder?" There was a pause as the man in the driver's seat turned on the engine, the vehicle roaring to life.
"Marauder is go." The man's voice reached Wally's ears a second before it echoed through the radio.
"Big Momma?" Light flooded through the gaps made by the windows as the headlights from the other vehicle lit up with the starting of its engine.
"Big Momma is ready to roll!"
"Alright, you heard Momma! Let's roll!" Michael's voice sounded like he might have been laughing.
Wally's hands clenched on his knees as he waited, unsure if the tank was moving or not; a moment later a soft lurch told him it had. He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths as the convoy began to move down the long tunnel that would lead outside. Soon they would be on their way to Gotham, and hopefully, to the end of the war.
Thank you for all the support with finding a couple new writers! It's so helpful and nice to see everyone so interested in the project.
